$45.5 million preschool funding boost

Minister for Early Childhood Education Leslie Williams today announced programs worth $45.5 million to increase the number of children attending preschool
in the year before school.

Mrs Williams said the NSW Government is providing additional funding to support community preschools in 2016:

$13 million over four years to increase base funding rates by 2.5 per cent;

$11 million for bonus payments of up to 15 per cent of a service's base rate, to reward centres that enrol more four and five-year-olds for 15 hours
per week;

$4 million over two years to provide business advice and support to preschools;

$12 million over four years for a Preschools for Sustainable Communities program, to help maintain viability for community preschools in rural and
remote areas; and

$5.5 million over three years to improve the collection of data from services.

The initiatives announced today will increase the number of four and five-year-old children enrolled in quality preschool programs in the year before full-time
school. The focus is on increasing enrolments of children from low-income and Aboriginal families, ensuring that cost or location are not barriers
to participation,â€ Mrs Williams said.

These initiatives will also support the NSW Government's work to increase the proportion of Aboriginal students in the top two NAPLAN bands at school.â€

Operational support for preschools will continue until June 2018 to assist services in enhancing their business skills. The Preschools for Sustainable
Communities program provides additional funding to eligible services in non-metropolitan areas for four years from 2016.